The effects of tasks on integrating information from multiple documents

The authors examine 2 issues: (a) how students integrate information from multiple scientific documents to describe and explain a physical phenomenon that represents a subset of the information in the documents; and (b) the role of 2 sorts of tasks to achieve this type of integration, either writing an essay on a question requiring integration across texts or answering shorter intratext questions that require students to integrate information within a single text, while superficial and deep comprehension measurements are obtained. Undergraduate students answered 1 of the 2 types of questions, and their reading times were recorded. Half of the sample thought aloud. Results showed that the integration question increased integration and decreased the processing of isolated units of information, which enhanced deep learning, whereas no differences between the 2 sorts of tasks on memory recall were apparent. This research also provides evidence for the discrepancy between training and posttraining effects (R. A. Schmidt & R. A. Bjork, 1992).